


Always, the fic

by nitamar



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-14 09:05:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2185836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitamar/pseuds/nitamar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor, Rory, Amy and River found themselves stranded in two different timelines. How will they help each other and get back together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

There was a loud bang and the Doctor snapped his eyes open, not sure if the noise was coming from his dream or something is really happening.  
He focused his still quite foggy mind. The TARDIS is humming as usual. All seems peace and quiet. He breathes out in relief and closes his eyes again. But something is not right. In his head there are echoes of voices. Too real and too close and too persist to just fade away as dream echoes should do.  
The Doctor pushed himself up. And as his newly tensed muscles met hard surface he noticed for the first time since he woke he’d been lying on the glass floor of the console room all along. Did he simply pass out out of exhaustion again? He tried to clear the fog in his mind and to recall the last thing he remembered. But his mind was scarily blank. Very not right. Maybe he got concession when his head hit the floor? The Doctor jumped to his feet, reaching for the console switches to see if Sexy can tell him anything.  
He caught something in the corner of his eye and he took a second glance. But everything’s normal. The TARDIS door is securely locked. The way it should. But the Doctor could have sworn before he took his second glance the door was open. Only a fraction. But there was definitely to wide a shadow when the two doors meet.  
“RIVER!” The Doctor shouted. There is only one explanation, that is River had somehow sneaked in. He should have a word with the TARDIS. Sooner rather than later. Yes the TARDIS is fond of River because she was conceived when Amy and Rory… scratch that BUT it now seems the two girls have bonded, formed alliance even, without him. And the Doctor does not like being left out  
No one answered though. And the Doctor was just about to get grumpy when a faint “Ow” came from the other side of the console.  
“Rory?” the Doctor hurried over to where the voice was, and saw him trying to get himself off the floor, one hand over his head as though he banged on it. “Rory what are you doing in the TARDIS?”  
Rory gave him a glance that made the Doctor shut up at once and helped him up. One hand still on his head, rubbing gently, Rory looked around instinctively and said, “Where’s Amy?”  
The Doctor looked angry but let’s be honest it’s more pouty than angry. “Amy’s here as well? How did River sneak you in?”  
“No-” Rory stuttered as different words car-crashed on his tongue, “What are you talking about? We were in the TARDIS together. You, me and Amy.”  
“Really?”  
“Yes. And then there was a … loud bang I think. Where’s Amy?”  
The doctor runs his hand through his hair.  
“How come you remember and I don’t? Human minds, less complicated structure. Less damage done I suppose, that can happen.” The Doctor claps his hand, “Okay. That’s that. Question of the hour now. Where’s Amy?” He looks up expectantly at Rory.  
“I asked you that a minute ago.” Rory replied, one syllable at a time. And it’s obvious the former Roman soldier was not pleased.  
“Yes, yes. Just wondering out loud, you know. As I do.” The Doctor turned and failed to look as if he knew what he was doing next.  
“Right.” He tried again. This time he bought himself enough time to think of something. And he took his sonic screwdriver from inside his jacket pocket, pointed it upwards and pressed.  
 “No one else is in the TARDIS.” He said, a bit too quiet as if afraid to let Rory know of this information. And too afraid not too.  
“Then where is she? Where are we, exactly?” Rory demanded.  
The Doctor hung onto Rory’s latter question and quickly started switching things on the TARDIS console. He dragged the screen to where Rory was standing and gave it a triumphant pat. “Well let’s see.” He said.  
But the screened whined and after a second of blackness all patterns of wavy lines started to appear. The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair again, apparently embarrassed.  
Rory has lost his patients by now. He abandoned the Time Lord still switching the buttons on the screen and headed straight for the door.  
“Okay. I don’t usually think it’s a good idea but since your machine doesn’t work-”  
The TARDIS whizzed suddenly at these words, causing the two to cling to a nearest object instinctively.  
“Shhhhh. Don’t be upset old girl.” The Doctor quickly recovered and rn his hands on the console in a soothing way. And he dared a “have you any idea what you have done” look at Rory. “He’s upset we’ve lost Amy. Well not lost, we just don’t know where she is at the moment. You can understand right? It’s nothing personal.” He turned and mouthed “SHE LIKES YOU! HOW CAN YOU!” to Rory, who was torn between mad and apologetic.  
“I’m sorry. It, it wasn’t towards you.” Rory said to the TARDIS. The machine gave no response, so he assumes she’s accepted. “Doctor can we go now?” He said and reached again for the door.  
The TARDIS shook violently and this time made both men fell to the ground. Tow loud bang followed and the TARDIS door was securely locked.  
The Doctor poked his head from behind the chair and looked at Rory. “I think she doesn’t want you to open the door.” He said. He jumped to his feet and tried all the door controls. All jammed.  
The two men looked at each other, and to the machine that, despite the Doctor’s best and consistent efforts, cannot speak.  
“What’s wrong, old girl?” The Doctor put one hand on the console gently, cautiously. “You don’t want us to go outside?” He tried a couple more switched, looking worried. But didn’t explain what he did.  
Rory hurried up the stairs to stand next to the Doctor. “What’s wrong? Where wouldn’t she let us out?” He asked. He knew the expression now. The Doctor must by now know something he didn’t. And he didn’t plan on telling. Whatever lies outside the TARDIS door must be dangerous. But if he’s right in putting two and two together, Amy must be in the middle of it.  
He put a hand on the Doctor’s, still resting on the last lever he pulled. “Doctor, I know it’s danger outside. But whatever it is, we have to get to Amy.” He said.  
“I know. Of course, of course!” the Doctor snapped back from his thoughts and looked at Rory as if he’s mad. “Of course we’re going out. But I think there’s more to it. And if we want to ever come back we need to do a bit more thinking than we usually do.” He said.  
“Okay, we. Then tell me all you know.” Rory said. Before now he didn’t even know the Doctor has a _thinking_ face. Usually he’s only got a inventing along until a solution happens face, a worried face, a face of very, very sad, and a five year old face.  
“Are you really sure River wasn’t with us when whatever happened?” The Doctor began with a question. “I swear I saw the door open but the door obviously wasn’t and didn’t open.”  
“I don’t think so. But maybe she just teleported here? You know River.” Rory said reasonably, clinging to the bits he understood as usual. He’s getting good at it now.  
The Doctor looked convinced. “So it’s River and Amy on the other side then. That’s better.” He let out a breath and looked slightly relieved. Rory felt a tiny little bit less panicky inside, too. If, by any lucky chance , Amy’s with River, then she’s as safe as she could be given the situation. And the Doctor seems to have an additional sense to the god knows how many senses a Time Lord has. When his smirk gets that little bit wider, River will always reveal herself a while later. And, you know, expecting River is somehow a large number of times more difficult to time than expecting the Doctor. But on the other hand, Rory’s painfully aware that both his wife and daughter are in danger. And this thought is in no way reassuring.  
“You know what’s on the other side, then?” Rory had learned that asking the Doctor a question never works. A challenge, however- there’s a fifty fifty chance.  
“Time.” The Doctor said. His eyes roaming everywhere on the TARDIS console. “Whatever happened has split the skin of time.” He turned back to look at Rory. “And if I’m right. Which I always am. River and Amy are now in a different timeline.”  
Rory’s eyes had danger in them. The Doctor was in the middle of being very pleased with himself to have finally solved the mystery, and they can now focus on working out a plan. He got a little confused why Rory was threatening to make him regenerate again, then he remembered what happened the last time Amy and timeline were involved.  
“I promise it will be fine, Rory.” He said. “River’s with her. Your two girls can rip apart time by themself.” The Doctor beamed. Pride was in his eyes. And Rory has to agree.  
“So what do _we_ do now, Doctor?”  
“The TARDIS will try to protect us in this timeline. Which means outside the TARDIS door must be where the problem starts. Which means that’s where River and Amy are right now.” The Doctor grabbed Rory and pushed him against the console. “Try convince her we need to go outside. She fancies you.”  



	2. Chapter 2

“River, should we really leave the TARDIS?” Amy asked her daughter as she stepped out of the front door and wrinkled her nose at the dusty wind that blew against her face.   
“Yes. Whatever's ripped apart time must be a force from outside. We will be safe in the TARDIS but will never get to their timeline.” River said, carefully but really slowly closing the door behind her.   
“Well they can come to our timeline while we stay safe in the TARDIS.” Amy said as she bent down to feel the sandy ground under his feet. It's firm like a very wet beach.   
“Quicker if we solve it ourselves.” River said, taking out a device from her pocket and started probing the atmosphere.   
“True.” Amy agreed. River glanced at her. She looked normal. Feeling her hands around like an expert one becomes after travelling with the Doctor for a while.   
No bells rang for the year estranged on Apalapucia then. River thought. Rory had been worried it would at least leave a trace in her subconscious mind, like all things that un-happened. She's Amy, after all. But it looked like the Doctor's prayer worked, for once. Still, River sighed inside her mind, all the more reason to solve this mystery quickly. The Doctor likes to jump right into the thick of things. He doesn't like not knowing. Plus dad will get cross.   
Together they started to walk away from the TARDIS. There was no track to follow. Looks like the TARDIS had landed in the middle of a sandy land. There were no buildings or plants in sight either.   
“Look here Amy.” River said and stopped in her track. Amy came over to look at the probe in her hand. The wavelength on the screen was showing a peculiar pattern.  
“It seems to be pulsing towards our left.” Amy said.   
Together they moved cautiously leftwards. And true, the wavelength grew shorter and sharper the more they go. Until the peak of it went almost outside of the screen on the left.   
River reached out a hand, palm outwards, and felt the air where it seems to be sucking on the energy.   
And where her slightly curled fingertips touch, the air wrinkled like a pond under the rain.   
“Looks like a lot of invisible people poking it at the same time.” Amy said.  
“This is where the two timelines are pressed together.” River said. “And the skins of two worlds are protesting.”  
“Can we just burst through it?” Amy asked. She poked at it herself. It felt like a thick layer of invisible melted bag of jelly babies, but no sticky feeling after.   
“No.” River pulled her back. “The energy between them is too strong. We won't survive it. Not even the Doctor.”   
The jelly baby wall gradually calmed down and it just looked like... Amy couldn't even tell where the wall was. Anger was rising in her. It's just stupid thin air. But she couldn’t go through it and Rory and the Doctor were on the other side she couldn't even see them or be sure if they were even there.   
River grabbed her arm as if knowing what she was thinking. “We go along it. There's bound to be a weak point. Or we can even bump into what caused it.”  
'Should we leave a sign where we are going? They will come looking for us.” Amy said. Both of them. She knew.   
“Oh they'll know.” River said with a smile. The very smile that always tells tale how much she loves the Doctor. There was less of a 'I know everything so don't even try' glint in her eyes. And it's moments like this that Amy is strongly reminded she's not just River, she's also Mels. Mad, passionate, always love with one hundred percent enthusiasm Mels.

“Can you hear it?” Amy said suddenly after they had been walking for a while. There seemed to be muffled, faraway voices beside her ears. A static-like feeling ran up her skin and she involuntarily shivered.   
River looked around into the air, looking for things invisible. Amy linked their arms together and, both not really admitting they were doing it, clutched onto each other.  
“Another world must have brushed ours.” River said finally.  
“It's Rory and the Doctor?” asked Amy.   
“Let's hope.” said River. “Chances are this place is pressed with different worlds we're stepping on someone's toes. But we are fine. We just have to follow this energy path that started from the TARDIS.” River added so as not to worry her mother. She knows all about the Doctor loves to exaggerate the danger ahead, so his companions would cling to him if they could help it, and more importantly look up to him in awe. Never knowingly be serious. Well if one's done as much as the Doctor, he's earned a right to brag. But that doesn't mean she approves of the practice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rory found themselves in the middle of a forest. And things accelerated. Literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like the plan is to try update once a month. Thank you so much for your patience!

Grudgingly, the TARDIS unlocked her door. With a squeak, the Doctor and Rory stepped outside.

The noise met them before anything else. It so happened they had landed in the middle of a very crowded meadow and all kinds of creatures were singing and dancing. Nobody took notice of the travelers as they closed the TARDIS door behind them.

The dancing circle expanded to beyond the TARDIS and back, cheerfully avoiding it in their steps as if it was just a tree.

“Doctor where is this?” Rory asked. He hastily tried to get out of the way as another many legged furry animal swept past him.

“Narnia.”

“What?”

“Haha! Joking!” The Doctor pointed and laughed at Rory’s face in such a way the Centurion remembered how awesome it was that one time he punched the Doctor in the face. 

And as he took another step back the Doctor suddenly launched out both hands and grabbed at his front, pulling him forward before he made out what the Doctor was shouting was “Look out Rory!”

The Timelord's strength was surprisingly strong and Rory, being swayed forward, lost his balance and fell onto the Doctor.

“What's wrong Doctor?”

“Look there!” The Doctor pointed at the direction he was going to fall towards.

“There's nothing there.” Rory said. Very aware that he's still pressed against the Time Lord's chest, but the Doctor seemed too preoccupied to notice.

“No, Rory. Look.” Seeing they're getting nowhere, the Doctor finally let go of Rory to reach for his sonic screwdriver. Rory immediately took a huge step away and was aware he's blushing.

But he soon pressed it to the back of his mind as the Doctor pointed his sonic towards the apparently unusual part of thin air.

 

With the sound of the sonic being activated, in front his eyes the air starts to go wobbly. As if they were somehow creature living vertically in a river and something rippled the surface.

“Wait there's voices.” The Doctor said, frowning. And he adjusted the setting on the sonic.

“...the energy is too strong. We won't survive it. Not even the Doctor...” The voice was saying, clear as if the speaker was standing next to them.

“It's River.” Rory whispered. “Is she talking to Amy?'

The wrinkle grows weaker despite the Doctor kept sonicing it. And no more voice came through.

“Doctor?” Rory tried to get something out of the Doctor but when the man's busy, you have to think about something yourself to keep your mind occupied. Maybe that's the reason why travelling with the Doctor makes one better and smarter under stressed situations. You are forced to save your life. But at the moment, instead of trying to figure out how to get to the invisible voices of his daughter, he couldn't shake away the voice in the back of his head - the Doctor, why always the Doctor?

And the man in question was busy sonicing carefully along a wall only he could see. _Well don't be silly Rory_ , he tried to tell himself since his company would be too busy to talk to him for some time yet. _You are definitely not strong enough than Amy, River or a Timelord. What did you expect them to say? “We won't survive it, not even Rory?”_ Rory's felt himself smile a little despite the situation.

“Yes, I think so. It seems the skin between two timelines was touched at the same time. Resulting in a temporary connection” The Doctor finally got himself out of his thinking to say. It took Rory half a second to realize the Doctor was actually answering his question. The most amazing thing about the Doctor is however distracted you think he is. He's always listening, and looking after everything. Except when he's not, of course.

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair and tasted the air. “And they are in the future.”

“But can’t we get to them? Just step through the porthole. We've done that before.” Rory asked

“No no no Rory! Aren't you paying attention? Portholes are for transporting from one space to another space. This,” he pokes at the air and Rory immediately felt something ruffle the tips of his skin, like static - “This is the skin of time touching but it shouldn't be. You heard your daughter. No one can survive going through. Not even me. And I'm trying not to be offended.”

“Offended?”

“Yes. ‘Not even the Doctor.’” The Doctor did a rather comical impression of River, badly, and continued, “What am I? Some sort of measuring equipment?”

“No, Doctor!” The Timelord's pout really took Rory surprise. “I'm sure this... this is not what River meant. It's just you are stronger than us, and...”

“And less likely to die?”

Rory was tempted to say “but it's true.” But he doesn't want to get abandoned here. “Doctor don't be like this.” He said. And he put a hand on the Timelord's arm. As he said and did this Rory suddenly realized this is what Amy would do and say in this situation. And indeed he felt like it's Amy who said that, and that she's right beside her.

“No, YOU are being emotional.” The Doctor said. And Rory felt his face burn again.

 

“So what do we do now?” Rory asked, changing the subject.

“Why don't you ask, what happened to the creatures?”

“What happened to th-” Rory looked around and nearly chocked on that last word.

“But they were...” He's used to turning his head and find unexpected things but this is hard to get his head around.

“They were here.” The Doctor helped him finish his sentence. “Up until when I pointed out to you you could still hear the music and feel them getting near you and back. And you turn you your head, they all evaporated, liked that.” He clicked his fingers for effect.

Rory could only nod.

Now the music has somehow suddenly stopped, he's aware the place was very quiet.  

“What's that crackling sound?” He asked. He could even feel his ears, in the silence, sinking down and adjusting itself to hear a much more quieter level of sound. “Doctor?”

And Rory suddenly found himself being pushed sideways by something gently, but determinedly.

“Step into the clearing Rory!” The Doctor's voice shouted down on him.

Rory looked down in time to see the nearest tree trunk about to engulf his left foot. He jumped back.

“What do we do now?” He shouted back as he dodge a branch that is shooting so fast it's gonna take his eye out.

“Jump onto a branch and climb up here.” The Doctor's voice was strangely stretched and distant. Rory stole a glance upwards, and was in time to see a pair of boots, hopefully with the rest of a body attached, disappearing high among the leaves and branches.

Without time to decide on a swear word, Rory jumped to climb onto a branch he should reach. His leg slid as the tree grows at a faster still speed but he managed to cling on. The bark bit into his palms as he swings with every shook and he could only hope a new branch doesn't decide to shoot out where his hands were. Every time a rather violent shake happens he felt his body's gonna detach from his armpits.

“Rory, climb up here!” The Doctor’s shouting.

“I can’t!” He shouted back. “Oh wai-”

And suddenly he could indeed. His feet found something solid. He risked a look down and found out he couldn’t see the ground anymore. Only green and brown of trees. It’s still not the ideal circumstances for climbing, but at least he’s not doing gymnastics anymore. He found his footing on the branch and leaves and started to climb in the general direction of the Doctor’s voice.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there's not much plot in this one :3 So I put in some gratuitous Doctor/Rory moments instead :D

He didn’t need to hear the Doctor encouraging him to climb faster. If he didn’t get to the top anytime soon, he’s going to suffocate in the tree - which is ironic. But then do trees on this planet even produce oxygen? Rory wondered, following the train of thought, for a second why the air is always conveniently breathable every time they arrive on another planet. He abandoned that thought when a branch, thick with leaves, shoved itself in his face.  
“Doctor I can’t see where I’m going.” Rory shouted. His own voice resonated within the closely knitted greenness. Rory winced at the earache and the loud ringing that echoes on and on.  
It was until, what felt like half a minute later that he realized the ringing sound is not just in his ear anymore, but…  
It’s the sonic screwdriver. There’s no mistaking its unique wavelength. Rory steadied himself and started climbing once more towards the sound of the sonic.

“Can’t you do something to the trees?” He asked the Doctor when his head burst into fresh air. It got easier higher up. The Doctor, it seemed, was enjoying being pushed upwards while sitting on the top of one of the trees all this time.  
“It doesn’t do wood.” The Doctor said, putting the sonic away and helping Rory get the rest of his body out. Rory didn’t even sigh. He’s used to the ridiculous uselessness of the Doctor’s various gadgets whenever they needed them most, regretfully.

“So what now, Doctor?” Rory asked him. Time lords might be like Nokia, human is feeling quite fragile and prone to falling and turned into a plump from up here.  
“There's no wind.” said the Doctor.  
“How can you tell?” Rory asked as he clutched hard to the top of the tree as it swayed this side and that, creating plenty of wind-y sensation on his senses.   
“The branches may be swaying Rory,” - and Rory noted one of his favourite things about the Time Lord is how he always addresses his audience by their names, making him feel more like a proper companion, not a someone-there-to-look-in-awe-when-he-does-something-clever – “but look at the leaves!”  
“What abOOOOOUUT them?” Another rather violent shook made Rory fear the branch he's balancing on is going to break.   
“Look at them Rory.” The Doctor suddenly clenched one firm hand on Rory's right arm, giving the Centurion another shudder that really threatened to make him fall. Instinctively Rory clutched the Doctor's hand before realizing what he was doing. But he valued his life way too much to let go.   
Luckily the Doctor is oblivious to these kind of things as usual.   
“Look at them. Look at the leaves. What do you see?”  
“They are waving with the branches.” Rory guessed.   
“Exactly!” The Doctor said excitedly.  
Rory had no idea what he said right.  
“They are not making twirls on their own when moving with the branches!” The Doctor said, his eyes glinting just inches from Rory’s. “Basic movement of the trees. Blimey you only need trees to stay alive on this planet and you never know?” The Doctor poked Rory on the chest disapprovingly. Luckily his other hand was still tightly clutched on Rory’s arm so it didn’t bring any imminent danger of upsetting his balance. 

Rory took a deep breath. Okay he honestly thought the Time Lord had found something important to get them out of their situation. There was an annoyance in his heart that expanded all of a sudden. Just like the trees.  
“Doctor, Amy and River.” Instead of the urge to slap him (Something him, the real him, has never done. Really, it would take a lot for the nurse from Leadworth to want to slap you. Unless he's in his Centurion mode, translated as, unless you threaten to touch his family. ), he said those last five syllables very clearly.  
“I know. I know.” The Doctor responded a little too hastily and he didn't meet Rory's eyes as he said that, and his hand finally declutched itself from Rory.   
“This is very important piece of information, though. I wonder why...” he said, looking everywhere, his voice getting quieter and more timid as if he got lost in thought.

Sometimes, when no one is around, absolutely no one (he would check once and twice all around the place), Rory allows himself to think about, with a faint blush, how he is the one who can make the Doctor, the Time Lord who can make any monster in the universe tremble in their dreams, nervous. Sometimes just by doing a simple thing like a glance of disapproval from behind Amy. It is a feeling he never feels in his life. And he cherishes it. 

“Rory?” The Doctor said. An involuntary shudder came from inside his body, “Y-yes?” Damn it, he had slipped into his own mind in the Doctor’s silence. Rory tried to brush it away by pretending it was just a by-effect of sitting on top of a tree. Luckily the Doctor bought it.  
And one thing Rory was certain, he did not like the look in the Doctor’s eyes.  
“Rory,” The Doctor was grinning gleefully, the look he always has when he just came up with the plan to save the whole universe-  
“I say we jump.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!!!!! The grand finale!  
> Thank you for your patience with this fic. Can't believe it has been almost a year.  
> Hope you like it :3

Amy looked into the hall they finally reached. It had been such a long walk from when they first spotted it, that more than once she started doubting in her head if this is a hallucation. why would there be a perfectly smooth and rectangular hall in the middle of a desert that streches, as far as they know, over to the horizon in every direction no matter how far they trekked? And weirdly, even though she should really be too thirsty to swallow right now, she's. ... not.  
'It feels like we haven't hiked at all.' River said beside her. Her scanner in hand.  
'Are we in a ... time loop or something?' Amy thought out loud.  
'Hopefully not.' River frowned slightly at her scanner and proceeded to hit it hard on the side.  
Amy smiled a bit. While she likes to flirt with a machine to get it working (shut up, it totally works), her daughter is more with the Doctor's way of insulting and shouting at uncooperative objects.  
She leaned closer to look at the screen.  
She didn't really understand all the datas and figures. But she had been around long enough to know the look of a machine when it couldn't make up its mind.  
"Is it because of the two timelines?" She asked River.  
"I'm afraid it's far worse than that." River said. And she looked around warily.  
Amy couldn't see anything. And the air feels perfectly still and - she knows what the Doctor would say if he's here - it's too still.  
"I was right. This place is filled with different timelines. All pressed together in one space." River said. And she didn't sound happy to be right at all.

The weirdest thing travling with the Doctor does to you is that, when you hear a bad news you don't feel panic or nervous. You feel...blank. As if your mind knows somehow as along as you tag along things are going to turn out fine. And it couldn't be bothered to be on high alert anymore. And Amy reckons the same thing happens to the Doctor himself. That explains his usual rather suicidal behaviour a lot. But River's different. It must have come from all the years of being on her own, of having to get everything from scratch, of being the one who has to come up with something and being the rock for herself.  
And since she knew, every time River joined them for an adventure, she felt heartbroken. But she never showed it to anyone, not even Rory. Because Pond girls are superheros.

“Something here must have been attracting time, like a strong magnetic field.” River said. “The density of timelines are much stronger here. Whatever the power source is, we are going the right direction.”  
“Shall we go in then?” Amy said. A big powersource that could bend timelines, you’d want to remember where you put it. And from the looks of it, the hall’s the only tourist attraction within a very large expense of land. 

Amy had no idea if she stepped into the hall or something stepped on the tightly compressed jar of time at that exact moment. For it happened so suddenly. Even if she did move her foot it was just a fraction of an inch.

She doesn't know where she is. For two long seconds this is the only coherent thought she has in her mind. After that came the sensation of a lack of gravity. Amy had only experienced that once, before the Doctor pulled at her ankle and she she felt safe again. it's not a feeling she will forget soon. It's a sensation of your brain feeling it should panic, because there is no one force supporting your body - but it's also hesitant about panicking because everything is fine, she's not freefalling or being hurled into space, just a bit... unstable.  
But that hesitance also lasted only for no more than two seconds. What comes next is such sharp contrast she's feeling.  
The buzzing and the vibrating feeling on her skin came before the noises.  
A confusion of noises.  
Noises coming from all directions, near and distant, everywhere.  
'River!' She shouted. She couldn not hear her own voice. She was not even sure if she shouted at all.  
'RIVER!' She could not even feel her vocal cord vibrating, not with all the soundwaves bouncing off her.  
All the while, in front of her eyes she did not know what she was looking at.  
Lines and colours, patterns moving so fast it's barely a block of colour.  
She was sure her feet is on solid ground, but she was feeling dizzy anyway. And she feared she was going to fall.

And then a hand, a slightly weathered hand, but soft as if it had belonged with her before neither of them knew each other, clutched hers firmly.  
River pulled at her mum and things spinned, slower, slower, and stopped.

'Where are we?' Amy asked. They were in what looked like the inside of a dusty shard. Sunlight leaked in from outside between the creeks. Stuff clustered by the wall, but it was hard to make out what they were.  
'In one of the timelines, hopefully.' said River. 'I tried to home us in on the strongest field.'  
Laughter came from outside the shard. It sounded like there were people laughing and running towards them. Amy and River looked at each other and silently slipped into the shadows, hoping that this is one of those occasions they could not been heard or seen.

The shard door opened and two boys almost crashed inside in a tangle of laughter, and panting from both laughing and running.

River's hand tightened around Amy's briefly, on the border line of startled or indicating something. Amy squinted and inwardly gasped, pressing herself more into the shadows.

One of the boys glanced at where they were, but his eyes swept past them and his attention was on his friend again.  
'What was that, Theta?' the slight distraction didn't escape his friend's eyes, though, and the other boy asked. He had already made himself comfortable on one of the furnitures. From his familarity with the place, this must be their secret base or something.  
'Thought I see something swish in the shadows.' The Do...no, the name doesn't feel right... Theta said.  
Amy's heart clenched in her throat as his friend immediately jumped from his seat and dashed to their direction.  
Luckily Theta grabbed his friend's wrist and pulled him back. 'Don't go near suspicious shadows.' He said, with a slight frown but a smile also, 'You never know.' He said it in a special blend of telling off and care and joking... Amy remembered what the Doctor had told him about this childhood friend of his. And she felt a mixture of emotions rushing from her heart towards the boy now pulling his friend to sit on the floor with him.  
'What? You think the Vashta Naradas would come here?' The other boy laughed. Theta chuckled and didn't hit back.  
It's impossible to imagine these two boys would one day burn supernovas between them to prove their points...  
'You are doing that laugh again.' The boy that will grow up to be the Master scolded.  
'What laugh?' Theta looked genuinely innocent.  
'The laugh that says you are wrong but you are my friend so I'm not going to argue with you.'  
'Is that a bad thing?'  
'Kind of. Sometimes it makes me feel you are not listening to me, that you are not hearing me at all.'  
'Oh that's nonsense.' Theta grabbed his friend's hands in his and looked at him with a smile full of affection that made Amy thought of the version of the boy that she knew so well-  
'I always hear you. And I always listen.' 

An emotion filled Amy's heart, she looked at River, who looked back and her, and in a glance they shared the feeling they were both having-a feeling that belongs uniquely to a time traveller- the sorrow of knowing what's to come, and the heart-wrench of being helpless towards someone you care about and want to protect so much.

For a moment the Pond girls thought of the Doctor-their Doctor- and wondered where he was, and wondered where Rory was, and if they were safe, if they had figured out a way out of here, when ( not if, oh that is not even an option, or a question, for traveling with the Doctor gives you faith that things will always always always work out) they are going to meet again. They always turn up in the end, their respective husbands. Or, they will always find them, somehow, however much trouble they go through. 

A loud crash shook the space and for a second Amy thought she saw many trees, or maybe it was just bunches and bunches of branches. Among the sound of crashing, the girls heard, in a mixture of delight and No Wait Not Now What Are You Doing Idiots - a very excited WHEEEEEE and an incoherent yelping of complain and for help.

The Doctor's face turned dark before he even properly landed. Together, Amy and River swiftly leaned out from their hiding place and pulled Rory into the shadows (with a hand clasped onto his mouth to stop him from making any dramatic alarmed-then-delighted noise in one well-practiced motion on Amy's part). There was a desperate but relieved tangle of limbs and crashing of mouths followed by a loud shush. The shadows were still again.

Not that any of the other people in the shard were paying attention to it. The Doctor stared at his younger-self, whose hand were still holding tight to his friend's, and they stared back at him.  
"Hello?" Theta asked the man in a tweed and bowtie who just apparently fell from the top of an invisible forest. The way he said the word felt as if he was poking the man with a stick.  
With their eyes all on him, the Ponds saw, clear from their hiding place, the boy who would become the Master took advantage of his friend's attention being elsewhere and silently slipped his hand out of the tangle.  
The Doctor must had noticed it too, for his stiffened ever so slightly, a change only those who knew him really well could tell.  
And the three such people in the room could hear the Doctor's brain wheeze the way a car gear simply refuses to shift.  
"Um..." The Doctor stuttered, his arms flailed to make a gesture that only Rory could understand... because he was there.  
It was when the Doctor finally spoke that the Ponds realized, aside from the shock of suddenly landing in his childhood, the Doctor was trying to switch back to speaking Time Lord.  
How many years had he been going around, used to being among people who wouldn't understand a word he said if he didn't make up a lie or use a metaphor of some sort?  
Enough of years for the last of the Time Lords to forget what being a Time Lord is properly like.  
If thoughts had arms, the Doctor would find three pairs of arms hugging him tight right now.  
"Sorry, TARDIS thought it'd be funny to land a tree in the center of a forest. One hell of a fall! Must have miscalculated when we did the space jump. Aftermath of shock, it happens." The Doctor said, his arms a bit shaky and his body shifted as he spoke.  
He's nervous. The Doctor's nervous. He's nervous if he would pass by as a Time Lord.  
"Where's the rest of your crew?" His younger-self asked.  
Everyone could see the Doctor relaxed a little. "Must be somewhere around here..." he said, looking at all directions. "Got into a bit of trouble with a time loop... we were separated."  
"Oh! We saw some shuffle in the shadow over there a while ago, didn't we Theta?" The young Master said excitedly. Reminding everyone that he was still a boy, and still had a long way to go to become the Time Lord they knew. "What did I say? Told you it couldn't be Vashda Neradas." He turned to his friend and said with a smug smile not unlike the one the Doctor so often wears.  
"Alright, you win!" Theta said, throwing his arms into the air, laughing.  
The Doctor was quick, before the two boys could get up and rush to where Amy, Rory and River were to have an exploration, he did a big delighted squee and pulled the three of them out and into a group hug.  
"Don't let me touch me." He whispered to the huddle.  
"Where's the other two?" He directed the question to River after releasing them.  
“I was going to ask you." River said, alarmed. Determination across her face, she headed straight to the door while saying "We need to go back to the forest and track the signal."  
The two boys automatically parted ways for her to pass, with the rest of the gang following closely.  
"Erm... Nice to meet you boys. Sorry about this." Rory squeezed in a goodbye before being pulled hard on the arm by Amy. She too, stole a glance back at them with so much words in her eyes, though.  
"Good luck!" They could hear the boys shouting after them. Before the Doctor, now leading the way, made them turn a complicated corner and, even though they didn't pass anything that would block their view, the shard was out of sight.

The Doctor continued to walk, though, his face dark and dangerous again. So for a moment nobody said anything, and followed closely.They trekked on through what felt like a vast desert, giving Amy and River deja vus. After a long while River felt safe enough to ask, "Where are we going Doctor?"  
The Doctor stopped abruptly in his tracks and turned on his heels.  
"How did you get here?" He asked back, his voice quite cross, but River understood he's not cross at her, but at something else.  
River retold hers and Amy's part of the story. "And how did you?"  
The Doctor didn't answer so Rory stepped in.  
"And then we jumped from the tree top... Doctor didn't say why though..." Rory hastily avoided his wife's and daughter's joint death stare and looked at the Doctor for help.  
To everyone's surprise, the Doctor, who was all Oncoming Storm mode two seconds ago, turned pink.  
"I thought if we jump, it would cause a distress, and the TARDIS could home in on that and..." He looked at River.  
"And I can catch you." River finished the sentence for him.  
"I could catch myself! A Timey Wimey solution. See? Clever? Ha!"  
These words could have been convincing if the Doctor wasn't blushing furiously.  
"Of course you would." said River smoothly. And Amy had to bite back a chuckle.  
"But how did we end up here together?" Amy asked, changing the subject. Well, someone had to.  
"More importantly, why here of all places?" The Doctor looked around. He still looked adorable, but he was back to serious-business mode.  
"River how did you home in on this timeline?"  
"This was the strongest force I could feel, so I just focused on it." River said, "It was really the only thing I could do at that moment."  
"Of course it was." The Doctor said quietly to himself.  
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Amy asked, but Rory pulled at her arm and shook his head slightly at her.  
"I was dreaming." The Doctor said, after a long broody moment, to his three friends. And he swallowed, choosing the next word. Even to River, Amy and Rory, his pride was too much for his to admit that he had been feeling particularly lonely recently, with the family of Ponds buzzing in the TARDIS. Most of the times it gave him joy and much needed warmth, but other times it reminded him of things he once had, and would never have again.  
So sometimes, not frequently but... verging on the edge of often, he would stay in the console when everyone's resting, just him and the TARDIS, and he would think about the golden days of his life. He would put his mind back to that time, really feel himself there, laughing and carefree, heart full of love and trust - with the TARDIS indulging him.  
But a Time Lord's mind was powerful. And the powers of a TARDIS needed to be used very carefully.  
"Sorry." The Doctor recovered from his brief spell and gave everyone a huge apolegetic grin, "I passed out while working under the TARDIS console. I was dreaming, must have dreamed too loud and caused this."  
The Ponds shared a "Do you believe this cause I don't" look. But they didn't say anything. For now. When they are out of here and back in the TARDIS, that's the time for a family Emergency-is-the-Doctor-alright meeting.  
"Okay that's good to know." Rory said, "Next question, how do we get back to the TARDIS?"  
"Haven't you noticed?" The Doctor said.  
"Notice what?"  
"We are not on Gallifrey."  
They noticed, but no one pointed it out. They had all heard from the Doctor about the beautiful red-orange sky of his home planet, and this desert is nothing like that. What they can see apart from sand is grey and boring.  
"But that was you back in the shard." said River, stating a fact.  
"Yes it was." The Doctor agreed. But after we stepped out of their we were not. We walked away from that timeline.  
"But I heard you... the other you, shout good luck."  
"They saw us fading away. Dismaterialised. It's not unusual on Gallifrey."  
"So where are we now?" asked Amy.  
"The inbetween place, the place where you can go to all the timelines. It's where we landed." The Doctor took out the sonic and indicated everyone to grab his hand.  
"What our mind focuses on can pull us to a point in time and place related to us. That's how this place works, really haven't you figured it out by now?" The Doctor's eyes swept around the three people gathered around him with a Why-are-you-so-slow-I-can't-even look, and received eye-rolls and glares in return.  
“Focus on the TARDIS. The old girl always listens for us. Always." He pretended he didn't see any of their responses and went on to say, pulling them here and their as his hands uncontrollably made gesture to punctuate, his eyes shining.


End file.
